Detroit Pistons: Jaden Ivey’s improvement by month

The Detroit Pistons won a whopping 17 games this past season, so needless to say, there wasn’t much to be excited about.

The two rookies were really the bright spots, as Cade Cunningham got injured early and the Pistons embarked on a shameless tank job with their veterans on the bench with “injuries” for the latter part of the season.

The tank didn’t work, as Detroit fell to 5th in the draft, though they can hopefully still get an impact player there as they did last year with Jaden Ivey.

Ivey not only provided fans of the Detroit Pistons with some exciting and entertaining play, his improvement over the course of the season gave us hope for the future.

He had a trajectory of improvement that will hopefully carry over to next season, and if it does, Detroit will have something special.

Detroit Pistons: Jaden Ivey’s improvement by month

Most rookie guards struggle in their first month in the NBA, and things were made even worse for Jaden Ivey when backcourt mate Cade Cunningham went out with injury after only the 12th game.

This thrust Ivey into a lead role right away, something he was probably not ready for, but which he grew into as the season progressed. Ivey started slowing things down, learning to adjust his pace, use screens and pull up on mid-range shots instead of plowing into defenders in the lane.

Turnovers were a problem all season, but again, that’s something you’d expect out of a rookie point guard who happened to be on the worst team in the NBA.

But when you look at Ivey’s month-by-month improvement, it’s a straight line up that could eventually lead to an All-Star caliber player:

• December: 13.8 PPG, 3.8 APG
• January: 15.2 PPG, 5.6 APG
• February: 16.4 PPG, 5.8 APG
• March: 18.3 PPG, 7.1 APG
• April: 22.4 PPG, 7.0 APG

Ivey’s points and assists when up from 13.8 and 3.8 in December all the way up to 22.4 and 7 in April. His shooting efficiency also took a big leap, as he went from a 51 percent true shooting percentage to 57 by the end of the season.

Ivey showed more playmaking ability as the season went on, improved his shooting from the mid-range and 3-point line and even made some strides defensively, though he still needs a lot of improvement in that area.

With his work ethic and basketball IQ, Ivey will undoubtedly get better this offseason, and Pistons’ fans should be excited to finally see their young backcourt in action.